NBA rules changes: Too much or too little?

Reviewing goaltending and restricted-area violations in the final two minutes of regulation and all of overtime is merely a start.

Foremost, there is no reason not to review all goaltending calls, the same way all questionable 3-poiners are reviewed.

But even with just the late reviews, there is another problem: Only calls are reviewed. So if a referee does not blow a whistle for a goaltend or restricted-area violation on a block-charge call, there will be no review, because there is no stoppage.

The upshot is officials now likely will lean more often toward blowing their whistles. If there is no whistle, such errors cannot be corrected.

It's a good thing the NBA expanded the use of instant replay. It has used the tool wisely and mostly unobtrusively. But until they handle flopping, they didn't go far enough with their recent rules changes. One expansion of video review allows officials "to determine whether a defender was inside or outside the restricted area for purposes of block/charge calls during the last two minutes of regulation play or at any point during overtime."

Good. But what happens when that review reveals a blatant flop? Flopping has sullied the sport and it needs to stop. Add a third free throw. Create a punitive points list, a la flagrant fouls, and fine or suspend when the limit is reached. Do something. Expanding instant replay is good. Eliminating flopping is better.

Technical foul calls already are reviewed after games by people in the league offices. Those same disciplinarians should expand their study of the game tapes to include reviews of all charges taken and all blocking fouls.

Egregious flopping should be punished.

The outcomes of basketball games should be determined by players' skill as players, not their skill as actors.

Let's go with Option C — just right. Potentially flagrant fouls need to be reviewed regardless of when they occur in a game because they are the most egregious infractions and could result in the ejection/suspension of the offending player. But at the same time, there are occasions when officials overreact to what they see on the court and could benefit from a replay that clearly shows a foul was not as serious as first thought.

Since charging/blocking calls are some of the hardest to gauge, it also makes sense to allow officials the use of replay late in games to get them right. The same goes for goaltending calls. Was a ball on the way up or down when its path was altered by a defender? Now officials will know definitively.